Think Through Learning Demonstrates Improved Educational Outcomes in Third-Party Study

Most impact investors know the holy grail of impact assessment is a scientific third-party outcomes study, but few investors and few entrepreneurs can afford the time and financial costs to conduct one. An outcomes study was completed of SJF portfolio company Think Through Learning in 2014. The company achieved phenomenal demonstrated results for its Think Through Math (TTM) product, a Web-based math instructional system for students studying from grades 3 through Algebra 1.

The Texas Education Agency commissioned the Gibson Consulting Group in partnership with Shore Research to conduct the study which employed a mixed-methods approach to evaluating the Texas SUCCESS program through a number of different sources, including online system usage and student growth data, interviews with district and campus academic intervention staff in local education agencies using the programs, and extensive analysis of student outcomes data related to the 2013-14 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) performance.

The evaluation reported, “advanced statistical modeling, accounting for other observable factors that may influence student outcomes—such as students’ prior STAAR-Mathematics performance—showed that students in Grades 3-8 who attempted 20 or more Think Through Math lessons had statistically significant higher STAAR-Mathematics scores than non-users.” On average, TTM users realized an average improvement of nearly 17 percentage points, with 3rd grade improvement highest at 26 percentage points. TTM users who attempted 20 or more lessons achieved an average 90% pass rate on the STAAR-Mathematics exam versus only a 74% pass rate for non-TTM users.

Other findings included:

• “Passing Think Through Math lessons was positively related to student performance on STAAR- Mathematics tests, meaning that passing Think Through Math lessons was an important indicator of readiness for STAAR- Mathematics content.”
• “Consistent usage of Think Through Math at the recommended threshold—five or more lessons completed per month—was associated with statistically significant gains on STAAR-Mathematics, particularly among middle school students.”
• “Grade 5 students who failed the first administration of STAAR- Mathematics and attempted 15 or more Think Through Math lessons before the second administration of STAAR were significantly more likely to pass the STAAR retest” than students who did not use Think Through Math
• “Grade 8 students who failed the first administration of STAAR- Mathematics and attempted between 1 and 9 Think Through Math lessons before the second administration of STAAR were significantly more likely to pass the STAAR retest than students who did not use Think Through Math.”

SJF is proud of Think Through Learning’s demonstrated educational impacts and looks forward to helping the company leverage these validated results to further grow its school and student reach. Over 2.5 million students and 80,000 teachers now use Think Through Math in schools spanning 47 states across the country. In 2014, students on TTM completed approximately one billion complex math problems and received millions of live personalized “just-in-time teaching” sessions. TTM was awarded the SIIA CODiE Award for Best Mathematics Instructional Solution in 2012 and 2014.

Think Through Learning Theory of Change